Kuroyu Onsen

Kuroyu sits at the deepest point of Nyuto Onsen, where the springs well up from a riverbed inside the grounds, and the inn says it has the most water of any Nyuto inn. Thatched and cedar-bark buildings stand close together in the old toji style. The water is a simple sulphur spring.

There's a mixed indoor bath and a mixed outdoor bath. Men and women also get their own baths, each with an outdoor pool and a pounding-water shower. The private baths Kame no Yu and Tamahada no Yu are free for inn guests who book them at the desk. Day bathers come from 9:00 to 16:30, and only until 11:00 on Wednesdays.

Ryokan rooms come with dinner and breakfast, and two of them, Momiji and Sakura, have a semi-open-air bath of their own. The self-catering wing includes a thatched building with irori hearths. You may warm a pot over the hearth, and the cooking itself happens on the gas rings in the kitchen.

From Tazawako Station the Ugo Kotsu bus takes about 50 minutes to the end of the line at Nyuto Ganiba Onsen, and the inn picks up its guests there if you phone ahead with your bus. Drivers turn off just before Kyukamura and follow a 1.3 km beech-forest road to the car park, then walk about 50 metres down a slope to the inn. Walkers can reach it from the Kyukamura-mae stop through the beech wood in about 25 minutes.